Dial H for Hero

At 42, Scott Lucas may be getting older, but he’s not giving up on music. In fact, he’s even more committed.

As half of the Chicago rock duo Local H (“Bound to the Floor”), Lucas evidently found one band’s full slate of touring and recording as not enough, so he struck up a solo project, Scott Lucas and the Married Men, which releases its second album on June 5.

“I was writing these songs, and they totally weren’t Local H songs. It felt totally right for a solo record,” Lucas said. “I love playing and I love to tour; the more I can do, the better.”

The Married Men tracks take on a more Americana-influenced, folk-flavored sound than the grungier one Local H is known for, but the line can be fuzzy, since Lucas always wanted the Local H sound to be ambiguous.

“I’d always wanted Local H to be able to play anything, so it’s not always a clear distinction, at least to listeners. It’s kind of like pornography: You don’t know what it is, but you know when you see it,” he said. “I don’t see myself stopping Local H anytime soon. If I did that, it would mean that I stopped writing Local H records, and that doesn’t happen.”

He’s backed up those words with action. Local H’s seventh studio album, Hallelujah! I’m a Bum, is due this year.

“We had an idea of what it would be pretty early on, and I’m glad we pulled it off. It’s big — double-record big. It’s the biggest thing we’ve tried to do thus far,” Lucas said. “It’ll be interesting to see reactions. The last record was so personal. This record, I wanted to look around at the country and write about that feeling. It’s very of-the-moment.”

Even as Local H celebrates 25 years together, Lucas doesn’t see him and Brian St. Clair slowing down any time soon. So what’s kept them around?

“Bullheadedishness — a sense of always trying to be present,” he said. “It’s never gotten to a point where we looked to rest on past records. We’re always looking forward and trying to do something else. It’s a certain level of commitment that not everyone has. It’s just the way it is.”